The BBC has an interesting story about a World War II summit meeting that tells us a bit about how the world has changed, and also, perhaps, about how it hasn’t.
The story took place in 1942, when Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, traveled to Moscow for a summit meeting with Joseph Stalin, the dictator who led the Soviet Union. The two countries were new allies, brought together by their common foe, Nazi Germany.
The initial meetings between the leaders didn’t exactly go smoothly. Churchill requested another meeting, which began at 7 p.m. At 1 a.m. an under-secretary of the British Foreign Office was invited to join the proceedings and found Stalin, Churchill, and Russian Foreign Secretary Molotov sitting around the shredded remains of a suckling pig on a table covered with countless bottles of liquor. By that time Churchill was just drinking wine and complaining of a headache, and Stalin made the bureaucrat drink a concoction that was “pretty savage.” The meeting continued until 3 a.m., when the Brits stumbled back to their rooms, packed, and headed to the airport.
The drinking party was unconventional — although not unusual for the Soviets, whose reputation for long, vodka-saturated banquets continued for decades — but it did the trick. Churchill and Stalin established a personal connection that helped the allies steer their way to victory over the Axis powers.
It’s hard to imagine our modern political leaders having drinking bouts and making bleary-eyed policy decisions at 2 a.m. after guzzling countless shots of booze. We obviously wouldn’t want them to do so. But the importance of making a personal connection remains as true today as it was 70 years ago during the dark days of a global war. Summit meetings still make sense because we want our leaders to be able to take the measure of each other and establish relationships that can stand the stress when times get tough.
Apparently we’ve crossed some new frontier in collegiate drinking excess, because 
The secret, apparently, lies in how the small amount of alcohol (.075 milliliters) is aerosolized. Rather than having to guzzle Cosmopolitans or Manhattans for hours — less if you’re a lightweight — until the alcohol is finally absorbed into your bloodstream, you’re immediately affected by the alcoholic mist. When the effects wear off, you don’t have a headache and, if the story linked above is to be believed, you could even pass a breathalyzer test.
Who’s number 1? The wine-swigging French? Nope, they barely crack the top 15, finishing at number 14. What about Ireland? That would be wrong, too — the Irish barely beat out the French, finishing at number 13. How about our vodka-guzzling Russian buddies? Closer, but not quite. The Russians finish at number 4. No, the top three are Hungary, the Czech Republic, and overall winner Moldova. The studly Moldovans pound down 18.22 liters of alcohol per capita and they apparently aren’t picky, either: they drink about as much spirits (4.42 liters) as beer (4.57 liters) and wine (4.67). In short, Moldovan partiers will be happy to drink just about anything you put in front of them before they collapse.
